International Conference Says World Security Depends on Somalia; Many Still Uneasy

By Tamara Alfred
Impunity Watch Reporter, Africa

British Prime Minister David Cameron urged the international community Thursday to help Somalia’s government tackle piracy, militants and hunger, or face terror threats from the troubled African nation.

World leaders from 40 countries, including Somali Prime Minister Abdiweli Mohamed Ali and U.S. Secretary of State Hillary Clinton, attended the conference on Thursday in London focusing on stabilizing and rebuilding Somalia after decades of war.  The conference sought to address terror and conflict in Somalia and find ways to resolve other critical problems, including famine and weak leadership.

An Al-Shabaab fighter stands guard as hundreds of residents are forced to watch an amputation punishment carried out. (Photo Courtesy of Getty Images).

“These problems in Somalia don’t just affect Somalia,” Prime Minister Cameron said.  “They affect us all.”

In a country where there is no hope,” Cameron continued, “chaos, violence and terrorism thrive.  Pirates are disrupting vital trade routes and kidnapping tourists.  Young minds are being poisoned by radicalism, breeding terrorism that is threatening the security of the whole world.”

The militant Islamist Somali rebel group Al-Shabaab emerged in about 2004 and has been fighting the government since.  Children as young as 10 years old are increasingly facing horrific abuse as the group forcibly recruits them to replenish its diminishing ranks of fighters.  According to Human Rights Watch, patterns have also emerged of children serving as human shields on the battlefields.

Al-Shabaab is also implementing strict Sharia law in the nation.  Women have been stoned to death for adultery; amputations and beheadings are common.  In some areas, listening to the radio has been banned, as have non-Arabic signs.  Al-Shabaab is also responsible for the assassination of several journalists.

In addition to the violence, the Somali people have endured bouts of natural disasters, including famine, drought and floods.  The U.S. government said 30,000 children had died in Somalia due to famine alone in the summer of 2011.

The prime minister stressed that the world cannot afford to look the other way anymore:  “If the rest of us just sit back and look on, we will pay a price for doing so.  For two decades, politicians in the West have too often dismissed the problems in Somalia as simply too difficult and too remote to deal with.”

Kenyan President Mwai Kibaki said Al-Shabaab’s recent announcement that it had joined al Qaeda should serve as a wake-up call.  “Clearly, a new and more dangerous theater for terrorist action has emerged in Somalia,” he said, “and this calls for focused and concerted international effort.”

Kenya is host to the world’s largest refugee camp, Dadaab.  The camp is currently over capacity with desperate Somalis who have fled their homeland.  The UN estimates that over 360,000 refugees reside in Dadaab.

Somali Prime Minister Abdiweli Mohamed Ali said that he even welcomed airstrikes to rid his of country of Al-Shabaab terrorists, though this was not on the conference agenda.  “We have to face this menace, and al-Qaeda in Somalia is not a Somali problem – it is a global problem that must be addressed globally,” he said.

However, Secretary of State Clinton said that the U.S. sees no reason for military strikes.  She announced $64 million in humanitarian aid to the Horn of Africa countries and said the focus should be on political progress.  Clinton said the U.S. will continue to work with Somali officials to create jobs, provide health and education services, and conflict resolution.

Cameron announced agreements on key areas including a new task force on piracy ransoms and the willingness of Tanzania, Mauritius, and the Seychelles to take on judicial responsibilities to convict pirates.  There was recognition, however, that it would take time to bring change to a country that has come to epitomize a failed state.

“We are realistic – Somalia’s problems cannot be solved in a day, said British Foreign Minister William Hague, “but its people deserve a better future, and our own security requires their country to become more stable.”

Hague also applauded the UN Security Council’s decision on Wednesday to increase the African Union force in Somalia to 17,700 troops, almost 6,000 more than the current number.  Neighboring Kenya and Ethiopia have both sent troops directly, while Uganda, Djibouti, and Burundi are contributing peacekeepers.  The United States has used drones to target militants in Somalia.

Cameron commended the conference on their movement.  “Today’s conference has put new momentum into the political process,” he said.  “We’ve backed the Somalis’ decision to end the mandate of the transitional federal institutions in August.  This timetable will be stuck to.  There will be no further extensions.  We will hold the Somalis to this.  We’ll act against those who stand in the way of the peace process and we’ve also agreed the formation of a new government must be as inclusive as possible.”

Meanwhile, Hague dismissed criticism of the conference by some critics who said it lacked enough Somalia input.

“It’s not Western, it’s global,” Hague told CNN.  “Part of our objective here is to build up the local governments, the regional governments, the institutions that have been able to take root…which is why they are all here.  It’s not top down at all.”

And yet, at least three demonstrations protested outside the conference.  “The conference is about 40 countries coming together discussing the Somali issue, [but] what we feel is that Somalia not part of it,” said Cabdi Aakhiro of Voice 4 Somalia.  “They are discussing their interests, not the Somali interests.”

BBC Somalia analyst Mary Harper also seemed to think that while Cameron was saying that the conference was “not about telling Somalis what to do,” the policies do not seem to be leaving Somalia to the Somalis.

Amnesty International also said the conference failed to adequately address the “dire human rights situation” in Somalia.

“The recent surge in military operations increases civilians’ vulnerability to attacks and displacement, and brings more arms into a country already awash with weapons,” said Benedicte Goderiaux, Amnesty International’s Somalia researcher.  “Direct attacks against civilians, indiscriminate or disproportionate attacks, these are crimes under international law, these are war crimes.  This is a lethal mix that could fuel further human rights abuses.  At this conference, we hoped to see more efforts to improve the safety of the Somali population.”

One Somali man expressed unease that the conference gave a lot of attention to ending impunity for pirates.  “What about ending impunity for the war-lords who have killed so many of our children?” said the man.  “What about the African Union peacekeepers who shelled residential areas in Mogadishu?  What about Al-Shabaab and even our transitional government soldiers?”

The next international meeting on Somalia is scheduled for June in Istanbul, Turkey.

For more information, please see:

BBC News – Will the world help or hinder Somalia? – 23 February 2012

CNN – Cameron warns world security rests on Somalia’s future – 23 February 2012

CNN – Years of chaos take toll in Somalia – 23 February 2012

Voice of America – Somalia Conference Stirs Range of Sentiments – 23 February 2012

Author: Impunity Watch Archive